Tracking Kids Using Chips in Backpacks Criticized, as Report by the Naperville Sun

I have started taking an interest in ANYTHING that might keep our children safer. I am a parent myself. When I read what a school district in Rhode Island was contemplating, all I could think of was: FINALLY! Something that would help keep track of both busing and the kids.

I speak from the frustrating experience of waiting for my son, who is autistic, to come home and seeing no sign of the bus. And if I didn't have the phone number to the bus company already memorized, it would be a bigger problem. And despite what the ACLU is saying, I actually think it's a good idea.

According to the article in the Naperville Sun on January 11^th, 2008, the pilot program is going to start next week in the Middletown School District. The pilot program, said the article, will include about 80 children who will put tags containing RFID chips, or radio frequency identification chips, on their schoolbags. The District also plans to equip two buses with GPS, or Global Positioning Systems, devices.

Both the school and parents will be able to keep track of the students while on the bus, and the District hopes that this program will improve overall busing efficiency, says Superintendent Rosemarie Kraeger. And apparently, these devices are only intended to record when students enter and exit the bus, and the GPS would show where the bus is on its' route.

This idea is being heavily criticized. Critics say that the program is a "solution in search of a problem", and that the district should already have procedures in place to track students. The same critics indicate that the program raises enormous privacy and safety issues.

I would agree except for the fact that it could actually help keep kids safer. How many times have we heard about bus drivers who don't check the bus properly and a child is left on a cold bus for hours before someone realizes that the child is missing? How many times have kids gone with a stranger instead of getting on the bus? At least if my child was wearing one of these tags, it would allow the district to help find the child if they didn't make it onto the bus, privacy be damned. I understand the overall concerns, and I respect that. But, ultimately, is it so bad to want to keep our children safe?

Source: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/lifestyles/730869,0110TrackingStudents.article